


Midnight Regrets

by Vialana



Series: Find Someone to Carry You [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coda, Episode 3x01, Introspection, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 01:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11910486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialana/pseuds/Vialana
Summary: Keith joins Lance for a midnight snack. Coda to 3x01.





	Midnight Regrets

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first story in another series from me. This one will be much shorter than the _Hope_ series and not quite as action-packed. 
> 
> This is going to be a series of short episode codas for season 3, so heavy spoilers for the season. Most of the Keith/Lance stuff is subtextual/implied; sorry if that's not your thing. I just really wanted to write some Keith character stuff after season 3.
> 
> Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys!

“Can't sleep either?”

Keith turned from his contemplation of the Black Lion to see Lance leaning against the hanger door. He was dressed in his usual night-time get up of silky pyjamas, robe and slippers. But he was missing his face mask. The effect was disorienting, like seeing an old friend with a new haircut or unexpectedly while travelling in a city halfway across the world. It took a second to recognise him since Keith was now so used to the way Lance looked at night.

Or, maybe Keith was just tired.

Lance didn’t notice his confusion, pushing off the door and striding into room. His gaze shifted from Keith to the Lion looming behind him. Keith felt strangely guilty seeing Lance’s naked face. Without the mask, Lance looked almost as tired as Keith felt; it was probably part of the reason why he wore it.

When Lance took his spot at Keith’s side in front of the Black Lion, it was like deja vu. The air was full of unspoken words and desperation. Keith was resigned to the idea of a new Black Paladin but still hated it.

Lance glanced at Keith, carefully, like he might approach a predator backed into a corner. Keith couldn’t exactly argue against his caution; he felt like any wrong word might trigger him into a blind rage. He hated that look, hated feeling like this, hated this whole situation.

“You haven’t really slept much at all since Shiro vanished.”

It wasn’t a question, so Keith didn’t engage the attempt at conversation.

Lance sighed and nodded as though Keith did reply. He turned back to face the Lion and let silence engulf them.

Keith put most of his dwindling energy into pretending as though he weren't exhausted to the point of passing out. Judging by Lance's concerned side glances, he was failing.

Rather than pushing the pretence beyond total believability, Keith let himself rub at his dry eyes. It felt like he was scraping broken glass over his skin.

He wasn't  _ trying _ to punish himself; sleep just avoided him completely every time he lay down and closed his eyes. All he could think about was Shiro, lost and alone in deep space. His dreams were full of desperate screams and blood. It was so much worse than even the initial nightmares after hearing about the Kerberos mission. Keith was close to collapse but he didn't know what to do about it.

“You know,” Keith jumped as Lance's voice interrupted his spiralling thoughts, “Hunk made way too much food for the meeting.” Lance offered a half-smile, a quiet impression of his usual boisterous grin. “Wanna go raid the kitchen?”

Keith opened his mouth to refuse but stopped before speaking.

He was tired and upset and, since he'd stormed out of the meeting before Hunk could serve anything properly, hadn’t eaten. He was sick of doing nothing; he was sick of looking and failing to find Shiro. So, while it wasn’t the most important thing to do right now, it was the only thing he could do. And Keith wanted to feel like he was doing  _ something _ , even if it was just satisfying his hunger.

(And also taking proper care of himself. Shiro wasn’t here to yell at him or drag him to his room when he pushed himself too far. Keith hated that his discipline vanished at the slightest hint of emotional turmoil. He should be  _ better _ than this.)

“Yeah,” he said, voice hoarse. Lance's smile widened. “I'm starving.”

Lance practically dragged him out of the hanger and down the corridor towards the kitchens. Keith put up a token protest for the sake of the image of their supposedly tumultuous relationship. But Lance, arguably the reason why their relationship was so rocky at all, didn't seem to care that he was basically holding hands with his rival and skipping excitedly down the hallway.

Apparently midnight snacks were a big thing for Lance. His older brothers used to sneak through the house and taught him where the creaky floorboards were when he was five. He and Hunk had memorised the night patrol schedule at the Garrison and often indulged in after hours snacking. They even managed to drag Pidge along one night when the Garrison had served those weird puddings she liked.

When they arrived at the kitchen, Lance was halfway through a story about almost getting caught by a bunch of drunk instructors sneaking in late after a night on the town. He only seemed to realise he was still holding Keith’s hand when he tried to reach for the cooling unit door.

Lance stuttered to a halt in the middle of a sentence about Instructor Pryce’s missing shirt buttons and blushed. “Sorry.” He released Keith’s hand.

Keith shrugged and hopped up to sit on the counter. “It's fine.” He refrained from rubbing his fingertips together. His skin was tingling. Lance's hand had been warm; his gloves had barely retained the sensation.

Keith let himself enjoy Lance's flushed embarrassment as he pulled out trays of delicious looking finger foods. He almost upended a bowl full of pink squishy lollies and Keith teased him for his gracefulness, nevermind that Lance did manage to catch the bowl before it hit the floor without a single candy being dropped

They sat atop the kitchen counter and shoved their faces full of Hunk’s latest recipes. Lance nearly fell off and tried to push Keith from his perch in retaliation for smirking at the sight. They stayed in the kitchen, lights dim, castle quiet, until they were full and yawning.

When Lance left Keith at his door and shuffled along to his own room, Keith realised he hadn't thought about losing Shiro since leaving the hangar. He climbed into bed with less hesitance than previous nights. The nightmares might be worse this time around, but he wasn't alone anymore. And that helped, even if only for one night.

Instead of empty space, Keith dreamed of bright skies and warm smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on Tumblr: 


End file.
